Bauer Media UK has strengthened its Xcel Media digital division with a series of significant new appointments.

Matthew Hobbs has been appointed Chief Technology Officer of Bauer Xcel UK.

He joins from Argos where he worked as Head of Digital Engineering and was responsible for building the company’s in-house agile development capability for digital channels.

Prior to that Matthew was instrumental in helping to build lastminute.com where he worked as Chief Architect.

Meanwhile, Akhil Suchak has been appointed Head of Social across all Bauer Media brands.

He joins from Viacom International Media Networks where he led social media across the company’s popular entertainment brands in the UK including MTV and Comedy Central, as well as advising internationally and on brands such as Nickelodeon and recently Channel 5.

Satpal Chagger has been appointed Head of Data and Christian Westcott has been appointed Head of Search from hibu.

All new appointments will report to Bauer Media‘s Digital Managing Director Sam Jones.

Jones said: “I’m thrilled at the world class talent joining our digital team, arriving at a time of huge growth in our digital audience, clients, products and investment, as well as a footprint that already measures 22 million monthly unique users.”